Ten
Harlow
I loved my job.
Truly, I did.
For as long as I could remember, the only thing I ever wanted to do was go to cosmetology school, so I could become a licensed hair stylist and eventually open my own salon one day.
But in all the years since I’d started pursuing my chosen career path, I wasn’t quite sure I’d ever experienced a day like today.
Never, not once, had I ever found myself eager for my last client’s appointment to be over. Obviously, I offered the same level of service today that I always did—I’d never risk my reputation like that. But there was no question I wanted the time to pass quickly.
Because it was happening today.
Not only was I going to be able to see Blaze for the second day in a row in the middle of the week, but he was also going to be coming to my place.
We were having a night in.
I was so lucky. As soon as he learned there was something bothering me, he’d stepped right up to fix it. He gave me what I wanted without batting an eyelash, and it felt good to know he cared enough to make me happy.
Because I was happy.
God, I was the happiest I could ever remember feeling in my whole life.
And it seemed impossible for that to be the truth when tomorrow would mark an official three weeks since Blaze and I met when he rescued me from that disastrous date.
It might have only been three weeks, but it felt like three months. The time I felt like I’d known him wasn’t necessarily about me believing I knew everything there was to know about him. I recognized that wasn’t the case. It was about the way he made me feel, and how comfortable I was around him so quickly.
The last three weeks had been the best of my life.
The way Blaze made me feel was like nothing I could describe. Even as I left work today, drove home, and hopped in the shower, I tried to come up with the words that would explain how much he meant to me, and it felt impossible.
There was so much I’d experienced on an emotional level since I met him that I’d never felt before, and because he was consistent, it was almost as though I never had the opportunity to really allow it all to sink in.
Yesterday was probably the most unexpected of all. It wasn’t that he’d called up and asked to come in to get his hair cut. It was everything he’d said while he was there.
Baby, I can’t get enough of you.
Those words he’d said to me played in my mind for what felt like the millionth time since I’d first heard them yesterday.
He couldn’t get enough of me.
It was precisely how I felt about him.
And I just adored the way he called me baby.
Maybe it was because I didn’t have much experience that I couldn’t be certain, but there was something about yesterday, especially once he’d said those seven words to me, that felt like a turning point for us.
Not only did Blaze make me feel things I’d never felt, but he made me want to do things I’d never done. And those feelings, the ones that were new and foreign and very, very exciting, became amplified when he called me baby and told me he couldn’t get enough of me.
I was relatively certain that was part of the reason I was struggling so much right now. He was bound to be here at any minute, and I was doing my best not to break out into a sweat over the things he didn’t know, the things I needed to share.
Because what if that changed everything? What if he didn’t like what he learned once I worked up the courage to share it?
I nervously bit my lip as I shifted back and forth on my feet in the kitchen, where I’d come after taking my shower to grab a cool glass of water in hopes it would help to calm me down.
As though he knew I was getting more and more worked up with each second that passed without him here, Blaze knocked on my door. Or, well, I assumed it was him, since he was the only one I was expecting.
Despite the nerves I’d been feeling about this new experience I was about to have with Blaze, I quickly moved to the door to let him in. I still wanted to see him, regardless of the worry I felt about how being completely honest with him tonight might change things between us in a negative way. That was the only part of this I was absolutely dreading.
I unlocked the door, swung it open, and instantly felt my nerves settle at the sight of Blaze’s handsome face smiling back at me.
The second he moved forward, I stepped back to allow him to come inside. He shifted the pizza box to the opposite side and leaned in for a kiss.
The scent of pizza was already filling the room, but I was positive it was the taste of Blaze’s kiss and the clean, masculine scent of him which forced a moan from me.
“Hey, baby,” he said, his voice a deep rumble.
There it was.
My new favorite word.
“Hi, boss.”
I’d decided to go with a fun name for him. I thought boss was perfect, because he’d sort of been taking charge with planning our dates and leading things between us so well.
All I had hoped to accomplish in using that name was for Blaze to feel even a fraction of what I did when he called me baby. And though I couldn’t be certain exactly how he felt about it, judging by the way his expression changed, I believed he liked it.
He held up the pizza box and asked, “Are you hungry?”
I nodded and smiled as I closed the door behind him. “Starving. I pulled out the plates and napkins already.”
“Lead the way.”
Without wasting another second, I led Blaze deeper into the house. We made a quick stop in the kitchen to pick up the plates, napkins, and drinks before we made our way into the living room.
For the first few minutes, we got ourselves comfortable with a slice of pizza each and some easy conversation about our days at work.
“I hope I don’t look like a fool to you, but I couldn’t wait for my workday to be over today,” I revealed.
“Why would you think that would make you look a fool to me?” he countered.
After taking another bite of my delicious pizza, I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it’s because I’ve never felt that way before about my job. I love what I do, and I’ve always found it exciting and enjoyable. It felt like the day was dragging today, though.”
A smile spread across his face. “I can think of a lot of things that hearing you admit that to me make me feel, but not one of them is me believing you’re a fool.”
“That’s good to know. How was your day at work?”
“I couldn’t wait for it to be over.”
I tipped my head to the side, my eyes assessing him. “Do you really mean that, or did you just say it because I did?”
“Both.”
Following a beat of silence, I said, “This pizza is delicious. Where did you get it from?”
Blaze’s brows drew together. “You don’t know?”
“What makes you think I would just know where it came from? It’s not like the box gives any indication.”
He let out a laugh. “You told me yesterday that pizza was one of your guilty pleasures, so I guess I assumed you were a pizza connoisseur.”
Sending a dubious look his way, I replied, “I realize this is a small town, but I did tell you I didn’t get out much. I’ve always either made my own at home or gotten it from the same place. I’m not one for venturing outside of what I knew.”
“Fair enough. I got it from Vinnie’s Pizzeria.”
“I’ve never had it from there, but I’ve heard about it,” I told him.
“Vinnie’s is the best I’ve had in this town. I guess it’s possible yours could be better, since it’s homemade, but if I’m buying pizza anywhere in Steel Ridge, I’m going to Vinnie’s,” Blaze informed me.
Smiling at him, I said, “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to compete, but I’d love to make my pizza for you sometime.”
“That sounds great to me. In the meantime, there’s something else I’m hoping you’ll be willing to share with me.”
“What’s that?”
He grinned at me. “Yesterday, when I asked you if you like pizza, you told me it was one of your guilty pleasures. I’m just curious what other guilty pleasures you have, since you like to claim you’re so boring.”
I swallowed another bite of my pizza and laughed. “I’m not sure my other guilty pleasure is going to make you think I’m some wild child.”
“I’m intrigued, Harlow. I’d love to hear all about it, whatever it is.”
For a few seconds, I kept my eyes pinned on Blaze. I wondered if he would laugh at me or think I was strange for what I did. When I could no longer stand the scrutiny of his gaze, I blurted, “I search for houses.”
He jerked his head back. “What?”
After sucking in a deep breath and blowing it out, I repeated, “I search for houses.”
“What does that mean?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes, I like to go online and search for homes.”
His brows shot up. “Here in Steel Ridge.”
“And other places.”
Surprise seemed to turn to concern. “Other places? Places significantly out of the area?”
“Places all over the country.”
Blaze dropped his pizza back onto his plate, and the look on his face nearly broke my heart. “Are you planning to move away from here? Are you considering going out of the state?”
Shaking my head, I answered, “Not necessarily. I just like to look at houses. And when I find one I like, I’ll try to envision how it would be for me to live there.”
Blaze studied me, his eyes roaming over my face in a way it felt like he was searching for answers to questions that were running through his mind. “What don’t you like about where you live now? Is there something wrong with this house?”
I tore my attention away from him and glanced around the room, taking it in. It was cute, cozy. When I look back at Blaze, I replied, “I wouldn’t necessarily say I don’t like where I live now. It’s great, but it’s not very big. And I guess I like to think that one day I’ll have a need for a larger home. So, I spend some of my time looking at homes and daydreaming about where I might wind up. But I don’t have a plan to leave Steel Ridge. My business and my family are both here. My best friend is here. I’ve built a life that, despite its lack of excitement in recent years, is here. And recently, I’ve met you here. I have no plans to leave any of that behind.”
Understanding dawned, and Blaze let out a massive sigh of relief. “That’s good to know.”
I hadn’t given it a second thought when I made mention of enjoying looking for houses; I merely wanted to share the truth with him. To know that he’d grown worried about it the way he had was heartwarming. I liked knowing that he seemed to enjoy having me around.
As we got back to eating our pizza, I asked, “Do you think it’s weird?”
“That you like to look at houses, so you know what you might want in a home down the road?” he countered.
I nodded.
Blaze shook his head. “Not at all. I think if it makes you happy, you should continue to search. And when the time is right and you find the one you want, there won’t be any doubts.”
Even though I was convinced Blaze was referring strictly to houses, my mind seemed to have no problem twisting his words to mean something else. With the way Blaze had treated me from the moment I met him, I’d thought less about houses that could be right for me and more about the kind of man that was right for me.
“I think you’re right,” I replied quietly.
The two of us finished eating our pizza, and after we both set our plates aside, our eyes locked.
“I’m so glad I came in yesterday to get a haircut,” Blaze said.
“And I’m overjoyed we were both on the same page about wanting to spend more time together so we could have this tonight,” I told him.
He smiled at me, something softening in his features. I committed that look to memory, at the same time I wondered what he was thinking.
In the next instant, I got my answer. Because Blaze moved.
“You’re only a couple feet away on this couch, and it feels too far,” he said as he shifted himself closer and wrapped his arms around me.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I returned as my arms went over his shoulders.
Blaze effortlessly managed to shift the both of us on the couch, so our bodies were running the length of each other. It reminded me a lot of our drive-in theater date, and as much as I adored the closeness, there were a lot of nerves.
Because there was no movie to distract us from one another.
And it took both of us almost no time to find something to busy ourselves. Blaze took one look at me up close, smiled, and touched his mouth to mine.
It started off sweet and innocent enough, but it quickly turned into something else, something far more consuming.
In so many ways, I thought that was a great thing. It was wonderful to know all Blaze had to do was kiss me, and I’d be lost in him.
But there was a part of me, the part that had been worried about what I needed to share with him, that believed it might not be so wonderful that I got lost when it was important for us to talk.
Because we did need to talk.
The more we kissed, the more we tasted. The more we tasted, the more we touched. And the more we touched, the more we moaned.
Plus, with our bodies pressed close together, I could feel how turned-on Blaze was. We desperately needed to talk before things got too out of hand.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t manage to stop us.
I was learning Blaze could say a whole lot to me without speaking a word. All he had to do was kiss me.
His kisses communicated everything.
His kisses proved he couldn’t get enough of me.
God, I hoped he could feel it was the same in return.
I just didn’t know for sure, though. I didn’t have that confidence, because I didn’t have the experience.
When Blaze’s hand moved from around my back down to my ass and squeezed, I told myself I needed just one more minute to kiss him before I stopped us. But it wasn’t even half a minute later when that hand made its way to my hip, slid up my side, and ultimately landed on my breast.
My belly was trembling.
Blaze was taking us further than we’d ever been before, and he had not a single clue about what he was getting into with me.
So, the moment he stopped holding my breast possessively in his hand and swiped his thumb up and over my nipple, forcing a guttural moan from me, I pressed my palm into his shoulder and reluctantly tore my mouth from his.
“Wait, wait,” I begged, completely out of breath.
Blaze’s hand instantly moved back to my hip. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head, nervously biting my lip. I liked him so much, and I was terrified this was going to change everything. “Blaze, I’m… I’m so sorry, but I really need to talk to you.”